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justin, chloe, vivi, sylvia

Dubna – Anna/Nick’s Dacha

October 13, 2007

Anna is a RGS associate that we work with. Her husband, herself and I had dinner a few weeks back. They are quite an interesting and lovely couple. They invited Stas and I to their Dacha in Dubna. Yep, Dubna two weekends in a row! We head out on the Express from Moscow. At just over 2 hours, it is an easy journey. Nick/Anna collect us at the station and we go the 20+ km to their dacha.

Let me explain Dacha’s. These are essentially Russian vacation homes outside of the city. Think log cabin living – with heat via wood stoves, outdoor outhouse, little indoor plumbing, etc. Dacha’s run the full gamut of quality/luxuries. Nick and Anna have a nice dacha!
Their dacha has 4 buildings. The first is the sleeping quarters. There is one big room downstairs and two rooms upstairs. They have beds and sleeping facilities for 10 people! Kitchen and a huge table makeup the second building. Wood burning stoves both heat and cook; then there is the stove especially for the shaslick. Another building (small) is the outhouse. The fourth is a sauna still under construction.
Nick and Anna are super gracious hosts! Nick goes into town to collect his sister and two other friends; Anna makes us some sausages. One wood stack has fallen – right in front of the outhouse door – and we re-stack it (in the dark, in the cold, mind you). I became the firewood chopper. Oh it so reminded me of home and I loved EVERY minute of it!
In typical Russian style dinner is multiple courses and lasts all evening long. We just sit and talk and dine… it is simple and so cool!